After losing two Champions League finals in the previous four seasons, Juventus bought Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid for £105m in 2018 to go to another level.
Now four years on, after offloading the Portuguese superstar and then announcing record losses last month, Italy’s biggest club are battling with Maccabi Haifa for the prize of the Europa League place from Group H. The glamour home fixture with Paris Saint-Germain has turned into a battle of survival for the Old Lady of Turin languishing in eighth place in Serie A and decimated by injuries.
And the financial implications of a November European elimination will only increase the desire of Juventus - and president Andrea Agnelli - to see a European Super League. Defeat to PSG - who have Neymar suspended - and a point for Maccabi Haifa against Benfica would see the Juventus dream turn into a nightmare.
Former Chelsea winger Juan Cuadrado admitted yesterday: “It’s difficult to sleep when certain things happen but they did happen. We have to show the strength of a great team. This is an important match for us to reach the Europa League.”
Coach Max Allegri has 12 players out injured, including former Chelsea teenager Samuel Iling-Junior who became the first Englishman to appear for Juventus in a major European competition since David Platt against Benfica. Paul Pogba has yet to play this season after suffering a knee injury in July. On-loan Moise Keane is set to play with Dusan Vlahovic also out.
“Today is a strange press conference, the first I have had in 12 years without going through to the Champions League,” said the former Milan boss. “For tomorrow, apart from (Manuel) Locatelli, I will not have anyone back.”
Allegri won five consecutive Serie A titles and took Juventus to the 2014 and 2017 Champions League finals before he was sacked after Ronaldo’s first season. He was brought back in the summer of 2021 to bring stability and discipline to the club after the short stints of Maurizio Sarri (who took Juve to a ninth consecutive scudetto) and Andrea Pirlo.
But going back to the future has not worked with his tactics looking outdated compared to high-pressing Napoli and Atalanta.
And Allegri’s lucrative contract of €7.5 a season plus bonuses, which runs until 2025, appears his biggest protection after Juventus lost four Champions League group games for the first time.
Failure to qualify for even the Europa League tonight - and open another route to next year’s Champions League - could see Juventus go for Thomas Tuchel during the World Cup break. Another former coach Antonio Conte, who is out of contract at Spurs next summer, is another option at the end of the season.
But Juve’s problems are not only on the pitch. In September. They announced record losses of €254 million during the Italian club's first trophyless campaign in a decade. And last week the Turin club denied any wrongdoing after prosecutors completed an investigation into false accounting and understating losses prior to a potential prosecution. La Gazzetta dello Sport last week reported that investigators also found documents showing undeclared payments to Ronaldo of €20m.
Agnelli remains a strong backer of the European Super League as Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid await a judgement from the European Court of Justice next month over UEFA's control of European football.
In an open letter to his club’s shareholders last month, Agnelli decried the “polarisation” in European football and wrote: “Continental clubs need access to the Champions League as the only leverage to limit their loss of ground to English clubs.”
Tonight, his Juventus are competing with an Israeli side to stay in Europe beyond Christmas.
